Always a Funny Time
by Jenna Cassie Herdz
Summary: I might pop back around puberty! Always a funny time! Post Episode Night Terrors


**A/N:** SPOILER ALERT! a one shot involving Eleven and George from the episode Night Terrors. i saw this episode and when i heard what the Doctor told Alex, the dad, the wheels started turning. i hope you enjoy!

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><p><em><strong>Always a Funny Time<strong>_

George examined himself in the mirror hanging in his locker, adjusting his black, thick framed glasses then lifting his chin to fix his bowtie. His strawberry blonde hair had grown out enough that he could comb it to one side…just like his idol. In fact, he strived to be just like the Doctor, ever since he was eight and that mysterious man saved him from his monsters. As a Tenza, he could do it easily, but he wanted to be true to the boy he was back then as well.

He jumped and looked around his locker door when he heard giggling from the end of the hallway of his school. He quickly glanced at his reflection again before closing his locker door to watch the cheer squad sauntering toward him. He leaned back on the lockers, crossing his arms over his chest just as the brunette leading the group looked up at him.

Their gazes met just as George lifted his hand to give a cocky wave, but his hand stopped, mid-wave and his jaw dropped. Even though he'd seen her more than a thousand times at school, he still couldn't believe how gorgeous she was. The brunette gave a slight frown as she passed and he only stared at her, but she smiled and gave a cute wave before turning to look ahead, and he kept on staring.

When she was out of his view he shook his head, violently then groaned and turned to face his closed locker and his forehead rattled the door when it landed on the metal.

"Daft sod," he growled at himself as the bell went off and he quickly opened his locker again to pull out his books to head to class.

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><p><em>Later...<em>

"Hello, son," Alex called as George shuffled into the room. "How was school?"

"Fine," George groaned, blinking a few times. He felt like his head was spinning. "I'm gonna get started on my homework."

"Aren't you gonna eat?" Alex frowned in wonder, watching George head to his room.

"I'll eat when mum gets home," he replied, not stopping.

"George—?"

"I'm alright, dad," he cut in before shutting the door behind him and sighing as he leaned against it.

He cursed himself again before lowering his messenger bag full of books to the floor, shuffling to his bed and flopping onto it, face first. He groaned in pain when his glasses were jammed into his face then rolled onto his back to pull his glasses off and rub his eyes, tiredly.

He had a chance to talk to her. At least say, 'Hello. Nice to see you. Fancy seeing a film sometime after school?' and what happened? He froze. Like he _always_ did when he saw her. He had planned this for weeks. What he would say, how to say it. But after all that hard work, he accomplished nothing.

"So much for her then," he sighed, staring at the ceiling and blinking, rapidly a few times. "She probably thinks I'm an idiot."

He threw one arm over his eyes and sighed again.

"I wish I could turn back time and do it again, _properly_," he muttered.

"Well, there's a wish you might not want to come true."

George swung his arm away from his face as he sat up and grinned when he put his glasses on to see who had spoken.

"Doctor!" George cheered, standing from the bed to run toward the man and throw his arms around him as the Doctor laughed nervously, hesitantly hugging the boy back.

"Well, stand back. Let me have a look at you!" the Doctor grinned, holding him at arms length and looked him up and down. "You sure have sprouted, haven't you? How old are you now? Fifteen? Rather thin, aren't you? That's ok. Like the glasses. Very chic. Ooh!" He lifted a hand to pinch the knot of the tie around the boy's neck. "I like a bowtie. Bowties are cool. How've you been, George?!"

The Doctor wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulders and walked him toward the desk on the other side of the room that was once filled with toys but now was filled papers and books.

"I've been…alright," George shrugged as he sat on his bed, and the Doctor sat across from him in the chair at his desk.

"Well, _that_ doesn't sound too confident," the Doctor noticed, leaning over to slap the boy's knee and waving at him. "Come on, George. You can tell me _anything_. You can trust me. I'm the Doctor, remember?"

"Well," George hummed, looking down at his hands to twiddle his thumbs. "There _is_ this girl at school…"

"Ah, a _girl_," the Doctor nodded in understanding, leaning forward in the chair. "What's her name?"

"Faye Jackson," George sighed, dreamily. "She's a cheerleader."

"Faye Jackson," the Doctor hummed in thought. "Good name. So what's the problem, eh?"

George blinked rapidly before lowering his gaze and the Doctor only stared at him in evaluation as the teen replied, "I…I was going to ask her out today. But whenever I see her, I freeze up. And even when I _have_ spoken to her to say 'hello,' my voice cracks and I embarrass myself."

"Well, that's normal," the Doctor nodded and when George shot his gaze back at her. "I mean the voice cracking thing. Also the nervousness when speaking to girls is normal in _any_ male of _any_ species. Anything _else_ going on that you're unsure about?"

"What do you mean?" George wondered, blinking rapidly again.

"Any other stressors? Anything bothering you?" the Doctor asked again, still staring at him.

"No," George frowned in thought. "Just the embarrassing attempts at dating."

The Doctor stared at George for a moment before sitting up and looking back at the cupboard behind him. He looked back at George who waved him off, knowing why he looked to it.

"I haven't gone through anything like _that_, Doctor," George assured him. "I'm not _afraid_ of anything."

"Even rejection?" the Doctor inquired, making George frown again. "Maybe that's why you can't build up the nerve to ask that nice girl out on a date, because you're afraid of the same thing you were when you were eight?"

George looked away in thought but it was short-lived when there was a light knock on the open door. Both men looked to the door to see Alex standing in the doorway.

"Supper's ready, if you're staying Doctor," he reported.

"Oh, yes, thanks," the Doctor smiled as he and George stood to follow Alex out of the room. The Doctor suddenly stopped and looked George up and down, making the teen frown in wonder. "You look like _me_."

"Yeah," George grinned with a quick nod, straightening his bowtie. "I thought you noticed."

"I did, sort of," he replied, still looking him up and down with a frown of his own before looking the boy in the eyes and asking, "_Why_ do you look like me?"

"Because…you're cool," George replied, almost shyly. "I want to be like you."

The Doctor's frown disappeared and he stared at him for a moment before gripping George's wrist and dragging him out of the room, past the kitchen and straight out the door of the flat.

"Oi! Doctor! What's wrong?!" Alex called, running after the two as the Doctor still dragged George behind him, toward the lift to head to his TARDIS.

"I just need to borrow your boy for a moment, Alex!" he called back. "No problem here! Be back before supper's cold! Have at it while we're gone!"

"Doctor! Wait—!"

Alex was cut off when the two entered the lift and the door shut behind them. The Doctor still held onto George's wrist as the boy frowned at the Time Lord.

"What's the matter?!" he asked. "I thought you'd be pleased!"

"This is wrong, very wrong," the Doctor muttered, letting go of George's wrist and pacing the small elevator. "You can't be me. That would just be too strange. Not to mention paradoxical. _That_ would be disastrous. Gotta get this done _now_. I'm glad I came back here to visit. Why are you so quiet?"

"You're rambling, Doctor," George explained as the lift doors.

"Right, come on," the Doctor nodded, gripping George's wrist again and dragging him out to head into the street where he'd parked the TARDIS.

Once inside, the Doctor let go of George as the teen's eyes widened when he stepped in. He turned all the way around to get a view of the TARDIS then turned to the Doctor as he ran around the console, gripping the bar under the screen to aim it at George.

"Your ship, Doctor!" George breathed as he neared the console. "It's bigger on the inside!"

"Almost like that dollhouse, eh?" the Doctor grinned, glancing at George before looking at the screen.

"Where're your friends?" George asked, still looking around.

"They went for chips," the Doctor replied, deftly.

"What are you doing?" George frowned, heading toward the Doctor to look at the screen as well. "Is that my x-ray?!"

"Yes," the Doctor replied. "I need to see how far along you are at this stage. This is an important phase. _Crucial_, even. And it is _not_ good that you've decided you want to be like me."

"Why's that?" George frowned.

"Because you need to be _you_," the Doctor replied, now turning to the console to flip switches and press buttons. "If you become anyone else, the person you're trying to be may cease to exist."

"Cease to exist?!" George echoed, panicked as he stared at the Doctor who ran around the console.

"_May_ being the key word here, George," the Doctor replied. "A slight possibility. Actually, a _big_ possibility. Well…" He trailed off for a moment to step next to George and reply, "a possibility, let's just leave it at that."

"But I don't…" George trailed off for a moment then resumed. "I'm still confused! I don't know…what I wanna do!"

"That's why _I'm_ here, George," the Doctor murmured, setting a hand on his shoulder, reassuringly. "Now, just have a seat, and we'll get this sorted."

George swallowed, his heart pounding in his ears and he nodded, taking a seat in one of the chairs around the TARDIS console. He watched the Doctor intently as the Time Lord rushed around the console, doing he only knew what.

"Got it!" the Doctor a cheered a moment later and spun on his heel to give that goofy grin to George. "Now, think of all the things that make you, _you_."

"O-Ok," he nodded and closed his eyes to concentrate.

He was drawn back to when he was eight, and then onward. Everything he'd done with his parents _before_ he wanted to be the Doctor. That hadn't been his dream until he was ten, but everything that happened from eight to nine, the trips to the shops, dinners at home and most of all his _parents_, made him who he was. In that moment, he knew, he wasn't just a Tesslacor, or the Doctor…he was _George_.

"_Now_ you're gettin' it!" the Doctor grinned.

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><p><em>Back at the Flat...<em>

Alex paced nervously. It'd been almost an hour since the Doctor ran out of the flat with George and though he trusted him, he couldn't help but worry about his son. Finally having enough he turned to the door and pulled it open to head out, but was met with an obstacle.

"Hello!" the Doctor grinned, waving at Alex with George under his arm, but to Alex, it didn't look like the George he'd become accustomed to. "I know, George looks a little different, but he feels _much_ better, don't you, George?"

"Brilliant, Doctor!" George grinned, shoving his hands into his jeans and sauntering into the room, making Alex frown but the Doctor winked at him, patting the man's chest as he came in as well and ruffled the teen's hair. "How's my new hair cut look, dad?"

"Looks…good, son," Alex smiled, nervously. He'd never get used to the sudden turn-arounds in mood from this boy.

"He shouldn't have any problem snagging that girl now, eh?" the Doctor smirked, nudging George slightly in the ribs.

"Well, I don't think I'm _that_ confident yet," George admitted, adjusting his glasses.

"Oh, you are, son," Alex nodded, setting a hand on his son's shoulder. "I can see it already."

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><p><em>The Next Day...<em>

George stared at himself in the mirror in his locker one last time before pulling it down with a smirk and set it in the locker before shutting it. Just as he closed his locker, he heard chattering from the end of the hall and saw the cheerleading squad heading his way. A sense of déjà vu washed over him, but this time, he wouldn't let the opportunity slip past him. Just as the girls were about to pass he took a deep breath and quickly sailed in front of Faye, making her stop dead with wide eyes filled with surprise.

"Fancy a film with me after school?" he instantly asked.

Faye stared at him for a moment before smiling and nodding, "Sure."

"Smashing," George grinned, holding his hand out to her. "Name's George, by the way."

"Faye," she introduced herself.

_Thank you, Doctor!_

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><p><strong>AN:** i hope you enjoyed it! reviews are appreciated. i think that's how you spell George's species. i'm totally guessing with that.


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